


Two Lost Souls In The Night

by afteriwake



Category: Angel: the Series, Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-18
Updated: 2012-09-18
Packaged: 2017-11-14 12:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a most unusual encounter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Lost Souls In The Night

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for **dhark_charlotte** for the exchange at **spn_het_love** years ago. Set before season 4 of Supernatural and before the "Angel" After The Fall" comics for Angel.

He had tried to kill her the first time he saw her. She had thrown him into a wall, and he'd almost broken his arm.

It was a hell of a first meeting.

When it became obvious that nothing was going to do any real harm to her, he didn't give up, but he looked at her with suspicion. He was wary and she was almost in an unruffled state of calm.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice slightly detached in an almost clinical way.

" _What_ are you?" he asked, breathing hard to catch his breath.

"I am an Old One," she said. "Trapped in this human shell."

"Old One?" he asked, not completely comprehending the woman who stood before him.

"As Wesley had told me, a demon," she said.

Sam's face etched the rage that was boiling up inside him again. She was a demon, inhabiting a human. She needed to be exorcised. He looked around and remembered the first exorcism spell he had ever memorized. He began the incantation and waited.

Nothing had happened.

"But you're a demon!" he said, shocked.

"I am an Old One," she said. "I am above the petty powers of a demon such as you know." She advanced on him. "I have more power even in this shell than any normal piece of offal."

Sam swallowed hard. "What do you want?" he asked quietly, a tinge of fear creeping into his voice.

"You are afraid of me," she said, tilting her head slightly to take a closer look at him.

"Yes."

"But you were not afraid when you fought me. Why?"

"I thought I could kill you," he said.

"Kill me," she said, moving her head so she was looking at him full on again. "You cannot kill me, not with your guns or your knives."

"What do you want to do to me?"

"I want to do nothing to you. I simply want to be left alone."

He blinked at that. "Why?"

"Because I am...lost," she said, looking away from him. "I do not know what I should do. The fight is over, and they all are gone."

"The fight isn't over," he said, giving her a quizzical look.

"All the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn are gone, as are those I fought with," she replied sharply, looking at him.

"There's still another fight, a bigger fight," he said.

"And what makes you think I will fight this fight, when I am considered a lowly demon by those like you?"

"I don't know if you will. I was just telling you there was another fight going on," he said.

"Tell me."

"About the fight?"

"Yes."

Sam looked at her warily. There was still a sense of unease about the entire situation, but since the initial fighting there hadn't been anything to suggest that she would continue to fight him. She seemed curious, and that was all. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

\---

He stopped his explanation, one that had taken almost two hours to get out. He had told her everything, from his mother being killed by Azazel, about his father becoming a hunter and taking him and his brother into that lifestyle, about the opening of the Devil's Gate and the demons being unleashed, about Dean's agreement with the demons to save his life...he told her about everything. He hadn't intended to, but it wasn't something he regretted.

Part of the reason it had taken so long was because of her questions and commentary. The questions he handled as best he could, as best he felt comfortable with, but the comments threw him in more ways than one. It was unnerving to hear her talk about demons as though they were unworthy of her time. In his world, they were front and center. He couldn't simply dismiss them the way she did.

When he was silent for a few moments, she looked at him intently. "Do you feel lost without your brother?"

"Yes," he said quietly.

"I can understand."

"Can you?" he asked, surprised.

"In those I fought with, there was a man named Wesley. He was in love with Fred, the human who became my shell. Even though he hated me, he was around me. He...helped me."

"What happened to him?"

"He went up against Cyvus Vail, a powerful demon warlock. He was killed." Her eyes hardened. "And then I killed him."

"Wesley must have meant a lot to you," Sam said.

She was quiet for a moment. "I...suppose."

"Was there anyone else?" he asked.

"A vampire named Spike. He was amusing, in his own way. Not a worthy opponent when we would fight, but his company affected me in a way that was no altogether loathsome."

"He was a friend?"

"I have no friends," she said. "I have no need for friends. They were allies and comrades, nothing more."

"But they must have meant something to you. You killed a warlock because he killed one of them."

For a moment she looked uncomfortable. "Perhaps."

He decided to let the matter drop. "Now what do you plan to do?"

"I do not know. I can revert to the form of my human shell, travel among your kind. I think that is what Wesley would suggest in a situation such as this."

"What did she look like?"

"You wish to see the shell as she was?" she asked, surprised.

"Yes," he said with a nod.

She concentrated for a moment, and then she changed. The blue tint on her skin was gone, and her hair was a curly brown now. She even smiled, something Sam thought this...thing...could not do. He refused to think of her as a human, even though she looked like one at the moment.

"Are you satisfied?" she asked.

"She was very pretty," he said.

"Yes, I was told that. Many times," she said quietly. "Pretty means nothing to me, though."

"You won't get hassled if you're like this."

"Then I suppose I shall have to stay in this state," Illyria replied. "I want to be left alone, and this is the best way."

He nodded. "Yes, it is." He paused for a moment. "What was her name?"

"Winifred Burkle. But they...they called her Fred. They cared about her very much, and I am told a name like that is meant as a form of endearment."

"A nickname usually is," he said.

"And what is your name? You have not told me that."

"Sam Winchester."

"Sam. Short for Samuel? Another nickname?"

"Yes."

She nodded slowly. "I will leave you now. I will stay in this shell and travel, trying to not be lost anymore." 

Before he could reply, she walked away, leaving him all by himself, reflecting on what was most likely the most unusual encounter of his life. He knew he should probably tell someone, even if it just meant reaching out to Bobby, but all she wanted was to be left alone. And that, he could do for her. He could help another lost soul in that small way. But he knew he would always be on the lookout for a pretty young women named Winifred Burkle, until he took his very last breath, and wonder if she had ever found what she was looking for.


End file.
